If You See These Colorful Insects In Idaho, Officials Say “Kill Them”

"Report it, Kill it! Squash it, smash it … just get rid of it!" are the instructions officials have given in the event you see these beautiful insects. Here's why...

Introducing... The Spotted Lanternfly! They're beautiful; colorful, spotted, maybe even a bit majestic if you're fascinated by insects, but also, they're very problematic. As it turns out, these insects reproduce very quickly, in large numbers, are very invasive and are damaging to "more than 70 species of plants, fruits and trees" according to a report from Simplemost.com. Yeah, they're trouble. Apparently, they like to eat all these plants, fruits and trees at alarming rate but not only that, when they do eat, they leave behind some sort of dew that invites mold to grow on these plants, fruits and trees, making them even weaker. I mean, they're just bad, for our ecosystem. So, if you see one, they say, kill them.

Here's the good news regarding this issue we're having with the Spotted Lanternfly here in the U.S; they've only been spotted in ten states, and they're mostly on the East Coast. However, they have been seen as far west as Kansas and I'm no Geography major, but that's only three states away and as we learned before, they reproduce quickly. That said, if by chance you do spot one of these bad boys here in Idaho, kill it guilt free! (C'mon, let's be honest... At some point you've felt bad for killing a bug, right?) You'll be a super hero if ya do!

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